MANILA, Philippines - The unprecedented flash floods brought by Typhoon ?Ondoy? are seen costing businesses, households and the government large reconstruction requirements.

Property and car insurers are seen bearing the brunt of the devastation but many households are likely to be left on their own as most insurance policies kept by the average household, if they even have any, would cover only protection against fire hazards, analysts said. But big enterprises with comprehensive property insurance like shopping malls are soon expected to file for damages.

?On damages, we are still assessing as some areas are total loss like [SM] Sta. Mesa basement, partial North Edsa basement and Marikina Savemore, Tanay and Del Monte, among other damages,? said Teresita Sy-Coson of the SM group of companies.

But there are no major material damages that could affect the operation of the malls, SM Prime Holdings Inc. executive vice president Jeffrey Lim added.

?Damages in the basement areas are all covered by insurance. We are still assessing the cost of the damage. What is being done now is a cleanup of mud in these places,? Lim said.

In the case of the Gokongweis? Robinsons Land Corp., there was an advisory that its Metroeast mall along Marcos Highway was affected as flood waters entered the mall?s lower basement. Robinsons Cainta, on the other hand, was isolated due to flood waters surrounding the area.

Astro del Castillo, managing director at fund management firm First Grade Holdings, said the devastation would force the government and the private sector to spend more. While it was too early to say how much the adverse impact would be on the country?s economic growth for the third quarter, Del Castillo said this event would likely weigh on the insurance industry as well as on service-oriented companies whose operations were hampered by the devastation.

Not too many households are likely covered by insurance against flooding, said Joseph Roxas of Eagle Equities Inc., but at the very least, he noted that the reconstruction efforts could result in some sort of additional pump-priming.

Roxas said households with members working overseas would likely seek external funding support in lieu of insurance, thus resulting in higher-than-usual remittance inflows in the coming weeks.

He added that state-owned pension funds Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System were likewise expected to release funding assistance to members affected by the devastation.

Elsewhere, crop losses due to tropical storm ?Ondoy? were estimated to have reached more than half-a-billion pesos, but agriculture officials said that the heavy rains could help farmers cope with the coming El Niño, boosting chances for good harvests in early 2010.

Agriculture Undersecretary Emmanuel Paras said in a text message that the figure was based on reports received from Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

Of the total damage, P490 million was attributed to lost palay or unhusked rice and P19 million was from lost high-value commercial crops.

Lost palay totaled 28,632 metric tons as of Sunday night. The volume was 0.44 percent of the national harvest target of 6.48 million for the fourth quarter.

Further assessments would be made to determine the rice sector?s outlook, national rice program director Frisco Malabanan said in a text message.

?It?s good the typhoon didn?t hit Nueva Ecija,? he noted. Nueva Ecija is a major rice-producing province.